New Delhi: Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the new chief of the BJP's Kerala unit, has lamented the lack of safety for college and university students in the state and said educational institutions had become "hubs of violence... drugs" bringing young men and women's future to a "brutal early end".
Speaking to NDTV Wednesday afternoon, Mr Chandrasekhar had been asked for his reaction to the tragic death by suicide of Chaithanya Kumari, a 20-year-old medical student allegedly harassed by her hostel warden and who was in a coma for three months, before she died.
"It is a real tragedy that at a time when every country in the world is looking at their youth as an asset... when the economic framework of the world is resting, is being built on talented youngsters, universities and colleges in Kerala have become hubs of violence and drugs."
Parents, Mr Chandrasekhar said, fear for the safety of their children at Kerala educational institutions, claiming 30 to 40 per cent of seats for undergraduate courses are currently vacant. This, he said, is because parents prefer to send their kids outside the state, whether it is for studies or pursue a career.
"It is a travesty... a state that long ago had 100 per cent literacy is today playing slipshod politics, allowing youngsters to leave or be held captive to issues like campus drugs and violence."
The senior BJP leader also spoke about another student suicide tragedy - in February 2024, when he was standing for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha election.
"During my election campaign, a dental student, a 23-year-old boy, died after being ragged. In today's age, we don't go to universities or colleges to face violence... we go to learn skills. We look to universities to improve our futures. Instead, in Kerala we find children whose futures are brought to a brutal end because of violence and drugs on campuses," he declared.
READ | "Must Arrest Hostel Warden": Kerala Student Chaithanya's Parents
Mr Chandrasekhar was referring to the horrific death of Sidharthan, a second-year student from the Government Veterinary College in Pookode. His father, Jayaprakash, met the BJP leader. "It is incredibly sad a father who lost his son is having to chase to find justice," the ex-Union Minister said
On his plans for the BJP's Kerala unit, Mr Chandrasekhar exuded confidence the party - which has historically struggled for traction in this state and Tamil Nadu - would now fare better.
READ | Rajeev Chandrasekhar Takes Charge As Kerala BJP Chief
Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, will vote in Assembly elections next year.
In the 2021 election the BJP contested 113 of the state's 140 seats but won zero. It did, however, win 11.3 per cent of the votes, an improvement of .77 per cent from five years earlier.
In last year's general election the party got one of Kerala's 20 Lok Sabha seats and a vote share of 19.24 per cent, an increase of 2.6 per cent from the 2019 election.
Mr Chandrasekhar pointed to that nearly 20 per cent vote share to claim "significant growth over the past two election cycles". The BJP, he said, is "certainly an alternative to 70 years of frustration in Kerala over the lack of any development."
With input from agencies
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